I know totally crazy right? Its mid November, why are there already Christmas decorations?? I thought it was an unwritten rule that you cant decorate or have a decent Christmas commercial until they have finished showing the Macys day parade on tv on Thanksgiving Day. Well in Italy they dont have Thanksgiving because they dont have pilgrims or the mayflower. My mama told me that Italy starts decortating for Christmas the day after Halloween. Really Italy? Jumping the gun dont you think??



Okay so over this week I baked chocolate chip cookies for my family and they were all gone in 24 hours. I forgot how long it takes to make them from scratch. Normally I just by the betty crocked package and just add water and an egg. Or if Im really lazy I buy the premade dough were you just put them on the cookie sheet and bake til golden brown. But I went old school this time and did everything myself and I have to say that cookies from scratch and premade dough cookies basically taste almost the same... to me at least. Most people will totally disagree with me on this one but for me I dont really tatse the difference.



Anyways the rest of the week I had school... blah. My tutor cancled lessons this week because she was out of town or something so that ment two extra afternoons of napping = ) This week I have a meeting with my school advisor and teachers to talk about me going to Scotland with my school in March. The trip is pricey so Im hoping for a scholarship since coming to Italy alone is very expensive. So my school adivsor told me I have to write a letter to the school basiclly saying who I am and what I want... in Italian. This is where my lovley brother Alessandro comes in with his great knowledge of English and Italian = )



Oh and in my last blog I mentioned I was going to either Verona or Torino. Turns out I didnt go to either. Yeah huge bummer! So my friend Michelle from Hong Kong invited me to Verona, but my mama invited me to Torino as well. I decided I wanted to go to Torino since my good friend Julia lives there and I hadnt seen her since AFS-NYC orientation. So while my mama had her yoga retreat I would hang with her. So I told Michelle to go to Verona without me so she left Friday night. Then on Saturday evening my mama told me we would have to leave the house at 5:30 am!! Seriously?? 5:30 am?! She said that her yoga started at 8 am and it was a very long train ride so we would have to leave early. Normally on Saturday nights im out til 2:30 am... so I would only get 2 1/2 hours of sleep. So I didnt go to Torino on Sunday like I planned. = (

Sunday morning it was raining and my brother Ale thought it would be "funny" to wake me and my sister Ottavia up at 8:30am. To the normal person waking up means saying "hey wake up" and maybe giving the person a nudge. But to Alessandro Spreafico it means swinging the bedroom door open shouting "WAKE UP!!" then opening the windows so this nice freezing cold breeze fills the toasty warm room. Then turning all the lights on to full blast. Ottavia and I just looked at each other like what the heck?!? We asked him why he was waking us up, was there an emergancy or something?? And replied with a simple no and said that we had slept long enough and it was time to wake up. I was simply flabbergasted. He then procceded by jumping on our beds while we were still in them and then taking off our blankets. I procceded by kicking with impressive force him off my bed and ripped my blanekts out of his hands. Then he marched into the living and blasted heavy rock music at its full volume. I raced to the bedroom door, slammed it shut, and locked it. Ottavia and I tried desperatly to go back to sleep but it was impossible when your house has paper thin walls.
So Sunday morning I was cranky, tired and we were out of cocoa puffs ceral so I was also hungry. Great way to start off your one day off from school!! Luckily my friend Roberto took me Christmas shopping at this wicked big shopping mall. For those of you reading this that are from the Boston area, this mall was the size of the prudential/copley shopping center and had south shore type stores. It was actually Robertos idea to go shopping there. I know weird right? Most guys only go shopping when forced by their mothers. This guy drove me, followed me into any store I wanted to go in, knew all the stores like the back of his hand, insisted on carrying my shopping bags, bought me a mcflurry, and didnt complain once. Hes a keeper! Im sorry but you can only find those kind of guys when they are seriously whipped by their girlfriends; other wise its rare to find them in America or at least in Duxbury, MA.
This amazing shopping center is probably my new favorite place to shop, its also where I saw all the amazing Christmas decorations. I must say that I have to give myself a pat on the back because I was able to get something just right for all 5 memebers of my family by mid Novemeber. The only reason I shopped so early for them is because it take about a month for large packages to get from Italy to America. So kudos to me = p

No other new to report here, I think Im going to try to make some banana bread when I get home from school. When the weather is crummy like it is today and I dont have Italian tutoring or yoga I like to bake. Almost every exchange student tends to have a hard time filling their afternoons. Esp. when your host country has never heard of your sports like lacrosse and field hockey. So for me baking is relaxing, enjoyable, I can watch mtv while doing it and it makes my Italian family happy which is always a plus. So until next time...

Arriverderci!

Thats right I am now offically part of the Italian goverment system!!
Okay so Thursday morning I didnt have to go to school (Yeah!) and I got to sleep in (Double Yeah!) and I went to the Bergamo police station with my papa that morning. I got to sleep in, take my time getting ready for the day and even had time to get a coffee and pastry and a local bar. Very lovley. Unforuntely it was raining.... a lot. Luckily my USA mom had sent me a very cute rain jacket so it wasnt a problem. We drove about 25 minutes to Bergamo which is a mini city near my town. I went there last weekend for halloween. Anyways we arrived at the police station and were sent to a huge waiting room... that was full of immagrints from around the world! While I was waiting in line this lady heard me speaking english and asked if I was American. I of course replied yes, and she said she had a daughter who was American too and long behold was my very good friend Erin from Oregon! =) I had met Erin in New York orientation and we had become good friends at the Aprica orientation. It was so awesome seeing her again. Talking to a friend in English for two hours really makes the time go by fast then just sitting there twiddling your thumbs.
So me and Erin had brought all of our paper work so we could be put into the Italian system. Of course me being me, I totally forgot to bring my 4 passport photos and had to take them in a near by photo both. And I wasnt looking my cutest that day since I was still sick with that horrible cold. So now Italy has a lets just say not the most flattering picture of me. Great... So Erin and I got our fingerprints scanned and had signed and few papers and we were free!
After the police station Erin came with me and my papa to get McDonadls for lunch, this is only my third time eatting McDonalds in Italy. Very strange for me since I eat it probably once a week back home. After me and Erin hung out for little bit then she had to get back home since it was a school night.
School all week was boring. I was only at school for half the week becuase I had my cold and it seemed like everyone else at school and home were sick too. Anways today is Tuesday and it has been a solid week and I am totally back to my normal self. Feel great!!
Over the weekend I met a lot of new and interesting people... they were my host brother, Ale friends. The are mainly 19 years old and are really nice and fun guys. Some dont speak english that well, which can get really funny when they have a few beers in them. Its good hanging with Itlains esp when they speak slow italian for me so I can learn more! When ever I talk to them I have to adjust my english so they can understand me. I have to drop my Boston accent ( i didnt know i had one til i came here) and then i have to take out the slang words, then i use really simply words and try then to use birtish sounding words. After I just sound liek my english teacher when they are giving a lesson to thrid year students. Weird I know!
Sunday my host parents took me to a small choclate factory where I tried a bunch of yummy italian chocolate = ) Lesson that I learned was just because something is free, doesnt mean you have to have a boat load of it. (The night ended with a belly ache) But it was so worth it! I hadnt had chocolate for the longest time. Italian chocolate kicks American chocolates butt!
Monday and today I have school. Blah. Tomorrow I have a half day becuase at the last half of the day all the students are supposed to go on a run. Strange I know; were supposed to run 3 miles tomorrow and it counts in your gym class. And they record your time and everything. It shouldnt be bad, ive run a lot further for lacrosse and field hockey I just wish I had found out about this earlier, so I might be a little more prepared for tomorrow. Oh well...
This weekend I think I will go out with the guys that I went out with last weekend. Im also supposed to go to Verona with the exchange student Michelle from Hong Kong and her family on sunday. My mama told me she has a yoga retreat in Torino and I could come with her on sunday instead. I have afs exchange student friends in Torino that I havent seen since New York back in September. Im not sure what city I will be on sunday but I should figuare that out in the next few days. Thats all the news here right now... Until next time....

Arriverderci!

Okay so as you can tell from the title this weekend I had my first real holiday that wasnt spent in Duxbury, MA with my family and friends. Over the weekend was Halloween, one of my favorite holidays; who doesnt love dressing up, eating candy, watching movies that are so scary you almost pee yourself, making carmel covered apples, carving pumkins and did i mention eatting candy?? Well here in Italy Halloween is well... a lame holiday to say it bluntly. They only celebrate it every three or four years. Luckily they decided to celebrate it this year or I would have been wicked bummed. Alright so let me give you the run down of my Halloween.

Saturday morning I woke up and went to school and half the class was either studying or blowing there noses becuase there very studius here and the cold/flu is spreading like wild fire! All my friends and classmates asked me a bunch of questions on saturday about what halloween was like in America. I told them it depended on your age- that little kids dress up and trick or treat, teens usually get together watch movies, go to parties, maybe get into a little mischief and how adults tend to manage the door for trick or treaters.
Anways since my good friends were sick with a bad cold they werent going out so I went out with some new friends. My mama made a lot of her delicious home made pizzas then my family carved pumpkins. My brother got a fat round one and did the traditional charlie brown pumkin face. I got a tall skinny one and did a scaried face. It was funny to see my papa scooping out the inside of the pumpkin and prettending it was real guts. Gotta love him!
After I met up with some friends who I met last week at a birthday party. It was one of the guys birthdays and he was turning 16 which is like turing 21 in the US. And my town has more bars than houses so there you go. Later that night I went to this I dont even know how to describe it... it was a bar/restuartant/disco. Its in Bergamo- a mini city about 20 minutes from my town. I went with my friend/neighbor and her sister and friend and they were all dressed up with devil and bat headbands, super high heels, and about of pound of makeup. The reason they were wearing headbands was becuase if you wore it you got free lollipops at this bar/restaurant/disco place we were going to. Anyways I was wearing a black thin headband with a black sparkley rose on it, ballet flats, and natural looking makeup. The second I got to my friends house she tried to put red lipstick, more mascara and eye liner on me... I tried to dodge it but sort of failed...
When we got to this place in Bergamo I quickly realized I was going to stuck out like a sore thumb yet again. First of all there were all these crazy people dressed up in their gothic halloween costumes. I was also probably the youngest person there, the only blond, blue eyed, and pale girl. Also I was speaking mainly english with a mix of broken italian and I was one of the only girls dancing because I wasnt wearing feet crunching pumps. I got home pretty late that night and overall had a really fun halloween!
Sunday was a day of sleeping in, eatting, and shopping.
Monday was a national holiday so I didnt have school which was good becuase I woke up with a big old fever, achey body, sore/scatchy throat, cough, and a lovey headache. Yupp the common cold. Normally I just go into the medicine draw take 2 teaspoons for nyquil am and pm for 4 days and Im good as new. But they dont have a medicine draw here so I had to wait til mama got home. It was also raining cats and dogs all day so me, Ale and Otty were stuck at home while our parents were out for the day. My sibs studied all day while I watched dvds from home on my laptop. Luckily my mama is mary popins and the second she saw me she told me I looked aweful. Grazie Mama! = p She is very into the whole organic, all natural stuff so she has been giving me uncommon meds, and making my drink home made juices that are actually good.... after you dump a couple table spoons of sugar into them.
Tuesday (today) mama check my temperature and said it had gone down but I should stay in bed today and rest. She has her cute little mama, Gina who doesnt speak a word of english checking on my every hour and making sure Im okay. Mama said if I get worse today then she will take me to the Docs. Doubt I will have to go becuase I feel better and should be okay for school tomorrow. If I do have to go to the Docs I hope he knows english otherwise ill have to point to my head and throat and say Owww! = p
Nothing else much to report so until next time...

Arriverderci!

Thats right I got a lucky break and had a week of vacation from my italian life and got to go see Roma, Florence, and Naples for a week! Now I wasnt all that lucky, I had to drive to these cities with my aunt, uncle and there 1, 3, and 4 year old kids. And we didnt really see much of the cities just some of their parks and playgrounds becuase the kids couldnt tour around the city. Their car didnt have a dvd player and the kids didnt have any of those fisher price games that are specificly designed to entertain kids in the car. So it was up to them and the others in the car to keep them under control. As many of you know I love kids, I work with them during the summer at a kids camp. The problem wasnt really dealing with the kids, it was being able to communicate with them because of course they dont know english and my itlian is well.... it is what it is.



So on Sunday evening I got home from Aprica and was really tired. And when I got the news that I was leaving Monday evening for Florence I didnt even bother unpacking my suitcase from Aprica, I just added a few clothes and called it a night. I know that was very lazy of me but very convenient. Monday I went to school then left the house with my cousins for Florence. I got my own hotel room the entire trip which was very nice of my family and very strange for me for I have always had to share a room with someone when ever I travel. Anways Tuesday morning my uncle left for work so it was up to me and my aunt Nora to get the kids out the door and explore Florence. Now I have already been to Florence with my school back in Febuaury so I had already seen all the big touristy spots. My aunt didnt know the city so we ended up taking a lot of cabs and walking around with a map glued to our hands. Florence was really pretty and over all a nice city.



The next day we left for Roma! My favorite city in the whole wide world! Tuesday night we checked into another hotel. This time I stayed at my old host families house and got to see my old host sister, Silvia and her family which was really lovley. The second I stepped into the house it felt like home. I got warm greetings from everyone in the house, it felt so good to be back in Roma. Tuesday night me and Silvia went to a pub with some of our friends and hung out that night. It was nice break away from watching the kids. I slept at Silvias house and early Wednesday morning we were back at the hotel ready to start the day. Silvia came with me, my aunt and cousins that day and showed us the city. We not really the city, we just went to more parks and playgrounds that were some what close to the hotel. That night I said goodbye to Silvia and we all piled back into the car and headed to Naples.



Okay so Naples was by far my least favorite city out of the three. It was just so old, dirty and run down looking. It also rained the two days we were there so we were stuck in this huge buisness hotel. Nora and I attempted to venture out Thursday morning but we only got so far when mother nature decided to have a big down pour of rain. Getting three little Italian kids from one point to another is not, easy esp in rain!! Overall Naples wasnt to lovley, there were lots of police men everywhere, many buisness men who acted like they had never seen a blond hair blue eyed girl before, and there was lots of trash... everywhere. Definatly not one of Italys finer cities!



Friday night we all headed back home, and I was ready to go back and sleep in my own bed again. The drive from Naples to Castel Rozzone was anything but short... Luckily I had my laptop and ipod for when we hit some serious traffic. If only they had ever lasting batteries.... We finally made it home at 2:30 am Saturday morning. I crashed into my bed literally becuase I didnt want to turn on the light and wake up my sister Ottavia.
I learned a lot over this little trip of mine. For instance when I get older and have kids I want my car to have a dvd player, and my kids will know english and anothe language like italian. They will also be very well behaved and there will probably be only two of them. After this trip I give any parents who raised three or more kids serious props. Esp my mom and grandma, I dont know how you two did it!! Kudos to both of you!!



Saturday I slept all morning and skipped school and had a "me day" of relaxing while everyone was at school or work. I did have a very special surprise when I got home- the package my mom sent me had finally arrived and had a bunch of goodies from home = ) Saturday night was my very good friend Cates 16th birthday so everyone from our class went out to a nice restaurant and got pizza and yummy drinks. Very great day for me!! Sunday I slept in which my host parents find odd when I sleep past 10am. To me its totally normal to sleep until noon on sundays if your not going anywhere that morning. My host dad had to explain to me that today was day light savings and the clocks had gone back... in italian. Took a solid 10 minutes for me to figuare that one out! Not much else happened Sunday, I got Mcdonalds with my brother and papa, I hadnt had a real cheeseburger for a while which is very strange and different for me. I basically have pasta and pizza coming out of my ears here!!



Now Im back at school and into my regular schedual. Oh by the way Ive got a new schedual, one that is official and everything! I basically created it with my school english teacher/advisor. The only classes I have to get credit in are english literature and gym. It so perfect! Im now in all 5 years of high school ( in italy they pull a post grad and have 5 years instead of 4). So now I have a more American senior like schedual. I have about 5 different english classes, 2 different spanish classes, 2 different german classes, 2 different gym classes, italian lessons and library time. I have a few blanks in my schedual where in the future I will take italian and art literature. Currently Im not ready for those classes. Im glad to be moving around a lot more. It helps me met new people and actually do something during the day and not just pretending to listen and understand my philosphy and history teachers endless lectures.
Right now some of my schools teacher are on strike so some days I will be starting school 1-3 hours late depending on my classes. Unfortuntely I had school at regular time and my brother starts 3 hours later. Totally fair right? Oh well... Ill write about my Halloween weekened next week. Until next time...



Arriverderci!

I got to sleep in thursday morning and packed my carry on size bag for a long weekend. My papa drove me to the train station where I took an hour long train ride to Milano. Luckily my friend Michelle from Hong Kong got on a few stops later so I wasnt alone the whole way. We got off the train and met with other afs kids and advisors. We walked outside the train station and there was a HUGE pack of afs exchnage students. It was so great to see everyone that I hadnt seen for a month. There was over 50 of us and we all took a double decker style bus and drove three hours to the beautiful city of Aprica. This town is lagit on top of a mountain and was really cool seeing all the mounatins and lakes on the way up. It was wicked cold in Aprica, lucily I bought some boots and a winter jacket to take up with me or I would have froze my bum off.


One activity we did was to get a big piece of paper and write our countries name on it. Then everyone would write down their impressions of that country. For the US people wrote down things like Hollywood, mcdconalds, new york city, fat people, fake blondes, stupid people, disney world, fast food, plastic surgery, big houses, big cars, celebirites, gossip girl, the oc, melting pot, lots of races, american dream... when we had finished writting we had to go to our piece of paper and say what was true and false about the comments. It was hard to explain to everyone that yes those things do exisist in the US but its not all common everywhere in the US. And a lot of it is around the world as well. A lot of people had comments for the US, Italy, Germany and China. And not much to say about Thailand, Norway, Finland and Chile. In another group there was a girl from Bosnia and a girl from Serbia . Now I have never heard of these countries let alone know where they are. So when they were speaking about their country not that many people wrote comments for them. Their piece of paper mainly said small european countries, near Italy, near Croatia, unkown to most people... It was kind of awkquard when I first asked them where they were from. When they told me and I told them I didnt know where their countries where they asked me if I was American. Sad I know. I asked some of the Europeans about these two countries and they said there kind of the lame countries of Europe becuase there so small and nothing really famous about them. Oh well...

Okays so during my last three weeks here in Italy Im discovering some of my talents. Actually make that talent. Ive discovered that I really like baking American desserts... a lot. Last week I wanted to bring some American culture to my Italian family and what better way to warm the heart than with food. So I started off easy and made brownies and they were gone that night. So then I thought mmmm whats a classic American dessert? And one answer came to mind- apple pie. I asked my mama how many pies she wanted and she replied "Oh I dont know 6, 7, or 8. As many as you can" Now im thinking that A LOT of pie!! So I went to the grocery store with my papa to buy ingredients. It takes about 7 apples to make one pie so 7 x 5 is 35. So buying 35 apples is kind of a lot... and cashier was looking at my like "crazy american..."
So when I got home my mama saw all the apples so she asked me why I bought so many. I told her that she asked me to make 6 pies. It wasnt til my host brother (thank goodness hes fluent in english) explained to me that she really ment that she wanted 6-8 apples in one pie. Yup thats right she only wanted one pie!!! Now im stucking with over 30 apples!! Mama mia... so far ive made 4 pies. And we still have about a dozen apples left over which ive been eatting for breakfast and afternoon snack. Three for my very large family (ive got a lot of relatives in this big house) and one for my afs dinner. Making pie from scratch takes about an hour to make and and hour to bake. So its takes a while and the pies disappear rather quickly.
Oh and your probably wonder about the coke floats. Now I really love rootbeer floats, but they dont have rootbeer here in italy... at least I dont think they do. (If anyone in Italy see rootbeer let me know!) so I opted for the next best thing- coke. So one night for dessert my family and I were eatting vanilla gelato and they were putting alcohol and coffee in their bowls. So I decided to put coke in my bowl, my family all thought it was wicked disgusting, that is until they tried it and thought it was very good. Oh and I made grilled cheese sandwhiches last night. Throw some ham in there maybe with a couple tomatoes and BAM you got a quick and easy dinner (thxs mom for teaching me). My family thought they were yummy and easy to make. I guess Im intoducing a lot of American traditions over here = )

And now onto other news, like school. As many of you know school here is really hard, a lot harder than your average public high school. So me being me, and knowing basiclly no italian Im not doing so hot in my classes. I think I would be fine if I spoke the language but unfortunetly I dont... yet. So with my English teacher and I sorted out my schedual. We talked about my classes that I dislike and seriously struggle in. I dont even think the word struggle works for my situation becuase to struggle is to be not very good at something because your having difficulties understanding. In my case I dont understand at all, in most classes all the info goes into one ear and out the other. Anyways my teacher and I decided that I should drop my math, science, philosphy and history class. Back home Ive already met all the requirements for science, math and history, and no one really takes philosphy at my old school except for the really smart kids. Im also taking 5th year english (im so good at english here that im skipping two grades! = p) and im pulling a true Duxbury senior move and taking two gym classes. Here we only have gym once a week for two hours. And during my blank classes I can go to the library to read, study, use the comptures and one the teacher will help me with one on one italian tutoring. Overall my new schedual looks great!!

A lesson that Ive learned this week is that if you need help, just ask for it. A lot of time while bring here I try to figuare things out on my own, like finding the right bus, or what my philosphy teacher is writting on the board or even where the sugar is in the kitchen to put in my wicked strong coffee. Im realizing that yes, its good to be independent and what not, but asking for help solves the problem a lot faster and easier. I wish I had known that earlier, then I wouldnt have walked 5 or 6 blocks instead of just turing the corner, or that I wasnt in philosphy, I was in history class or that the sugar in the the cabinet to the right of the stove.

Other news that has happened in the last week... honestly not very much. My family is really great, im so happy to be apart of their family. Some one told me they wish they could switch their family for a different one. I thought to myself I would never switch families, Im way to happy and comfortable with mine. I really have no complaints with them. Im making good friends, the girls from my class are super sweet and nice to me. Im really lucky to have me them so early in the game!

Onto future news, next weekend I have my first AFS weekend orientation! Im wicked excited its from thursday til saturday or maybe sunday. Yup, three days of no school! = ) And its up in the mountains and I get to see all my friends that I met in New York and Rome. I havent seen any of them for a month now. Its hard for me to get together with them becuase I live a solid hour away from Milan, where most of them are so its hard to commute there. The letter from AFS said that Im supposed to dress in my countries traditional clothes... so jeans and a t-shirt it is then! Also I have to preform a talent... mmmm i can make a mean apple pie lol. I dont know, ill probably end up doing a skit with a bunch of other americans.

A lot of people have asked me to tell them about some of my crazy adventures and expirence here in Italy. Unfortunetly I dont have any, yet. But the second something really out of the ordianary happens ill be sure to write a new blog post about it. Until next time...

Arriverderci!